Westbury railway station
0.270 | usage0405 = 0.292 | usage0506 = 0.306 | usage0607 = 0.318 | usage0708 = 0.345 | usage0809 = 0.368 | usage0910 = 0.378 | usage1011 = 0.425 | usage1112 = 0.453 | years = 5 September 1848 | events = Station opened as terminus of line from | years1 = 7 October 1850 | events1 = Line extended to | symbol = rail | owner = | original = Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway | pregroup = Great Western Railway | postgroup = Great Western Railway | gridref = ST861519 }} Westbury railway station is a railway station serving the town of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. The station is managed by First Great Western. The station is a major junction, serving the Reading to Taunton line with services to and from Penzance and London Paddington, Wessex Main Line with services to and from Cardiff and Portsmouth, services to Swindon (limited service), Heart of Wessex Line providing local services from Bristol to Weymouth, and services to London Waterloo. The buffet at Westbury appeared in a list of "highly commended" station cafes published in The Guardian in 2009. History The station was opened by the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) on 5 September 1848, and was the initial terminus of the WS&WR line from . This line was later extended to , which opened on 7 October 1850. The Salisbury branch opened on 30 June 1856, whilst the opening of the line to Patney & Chirton in 1900 (along with that further west from Castle Cary to Cogload Junction six years later) completed the GWR's new main line from London Paddington to and beyond. In the 1880s, the station was one of the meeting places of the South and West Wilts Hunt.Hunting Appointments in The Times, March 8, 1884, pg. 7, col. E In 1901, Westbury railway station was entirely rebuilt, creating two "island" platforms six hundred feet long and forty feet wide.New Route to Weymouth in The Times, July 2, 1901, pg. 10, col. C It has since been rebuilt and remodelled several times, most recently when the area was resignalled in 1985 (when the Down Salisbury platform line was lifted), but without changing the underlying form created in 1901. A freight yard next to the station is used by bulk limestone trains from the rail-served quarries at Merehead and Whatley in SomersetRailscot - Photos of Westbury www.railbrit.co.uk; Retrieved 2013-09-17 Services train from to Bristol]] The station is served by all three main routes that pass through it. On the main Reading to Taunton Line, the station is served by westbound trains to one of , , or and eastbound services to .GB National Rail Timetable 2013, Table 135 There is a service on the to and line and a separate service between , Bristol and Westbury on this route. Some of these trains continue through to Weymouth, and there are trains from Weymouth to Bristol & Gloucester. There are services to Frome, Warminster and Southampton plus through trains to and from .GB National Rail Timetable 2013, Table 123 South West Trains runs a service between Bristol and that calls here.National Rail Timetable 2013, Table 160Network Rail;Retrieved 2013-09-17 There is also a limited service run between Westbury and via , and - this is due to be upgraded substantially (eight trains each way weekdays, five on Sundays) at the December 2013 timetable change. }} }} }} }} Future The line to Westbury is not due to be electrified as part of the 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western Main Line. Although local councillors support it, the extension of electrification beyond to Westbury was assessed as having a benefit–cost ratio of only 0.31. References Category:Railway stations in Wiltshire Category:Railway stations opened in 1848 Category:Former Great Western Railway stations Category:Railway stations served by First Great Western Category:Railway stations served by South West Trains Category:DfT Category D stations